


after the end, where i might go

by DaTunaSamich



Category: Original Work
Genre: Afterlife, Death, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:46:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28430355
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaTunaSamich/pseuds/DaTunaSamich
Summary: This is Reed O’Donoghue, the author, also known as DaTunaSamich, or, in short, Tuna.I am the author of all these stories in this ao3 page, the following is a summary of what I suspect spiritually will happen when I pass.I will be calling myself Tuna in this story, and mentioning my birth name when needed.





	1. a strange place

He woke with a start, not unlike when one wakes from a nightmare, but without the icky feelings of dread and more of a feeling that he needed to do something important.

There was also this feeling Tuna felt, like he was, misplaced, somehow.

Nothing was wrong, quite the opposite, he had just gotten paid yesterday, and had today off, a day to himself. Tuna started to reach for his phone, checking the time. It was early, and he hadn’t missed his alarm.

Tuna walked to the kitchen, putting the kettle on the stove and grabbing some tea from the cupboard.

After he wiped the sleep from his bleary eyes, he looked and saw out the window, and was shocked.

No more was there a street, with cars parked every which way, and graffiti on some of the dumpsters, but instead there was a great dark expanse, frightening to the mind, and seemed like something out of a horror movie.

But Tuna stared, he’d seen enough horror movies and read damn near every Lovecraft story he could get his hands on, and it was intriguing, to say the least.

Tuna ran back to his room and grabbed the small battery lantern he had in case of power outages, and threw on his shoes and black/white sweater, grabbing a few other things out the door.

When he stepped hurriedly onto the grey-black stone floor, there was a sound, something he felt in his ears but couldn’t quite hear, but noticeable nonetheless. 

He began to walk forward, giving a backwards glance at his home and seeing it all alone in the shadows, so small, with dim lights shining through the windows and casting angel’s ray’s like the bright sun through rain clouds. 

When Tuna turned back, there was grass, and trees where there were none before, trees of every variety, tall pines, thick oak with bushy leaves, exotic Joshua trees and wiry birch.

There was a path in the forest, somewhat well trodden, with indistinct shoe prints scattered throughout; The lantern showed him the pathway, helped along by an unnatural light that seemed to permeate the land.

Further up the path there was the sound of water, a gentle current accompanied by the sound of crickets and wildlife,

And a single lamp on the edge of a small boat.


	2. The Ferryma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if it is a bit choppy, I wrote this in sections

The boat was small, but long, the lamp sitting on the stern.

When Tuna got closer he could almost make out something else, a figure maybe, in the boat.

As he got closer the figure was definitely there, cloaked and hooded in a black shroud, shadows encasing its face inside the hood and skeletal hands grasping the oars.

It was death, or an interpretation of him, classical and most memorable. 

Tuna approached the shoreline stiffly, somewhat afraid, gazing headlong into the pinhole white eyes of the ferryman.

“You are afraid, young man,” the ferryman paused, looking him up and down, “but not of death itself, not the concept, but of what you’ll leave behind you, in your wake.”

He rose, and stepped out of the boat, onto the shore; Not mud, nor water or sand clung to the flowing robes as he stepped.

“You have a preferred vision of me, a more human, but fantastical version.” He said, his voice changing and body morphing like falling smoke. Now standing before him was a young man in a suit, all black, with deep eyes that had a red tinge.

“Now come along boy, we had all eternity to get you to wherever you may roam, and it might be a long ride, It all hinges on you.”

Tuna stepped forward onto the shore, noting that for him, the water invaded his shoes and sand and all the other things seemed to love him in contrast, fickle nature.

the ferryman chuckled, he knew the mud would do that to him.

“So,” He said, lifting a book “Tuna is it, not Reed, nor any one of your other birth names?”

“I prefer Tuna, but I do not reject my birth names, they are still dear to me,” Tuna said

“I see, but you prefer the name you have crafted for yourself rather than something that was given. That is a trait you embody well, hard work, or the ‘doing your own work’ part anyway, that is stained all over this book. Your whole life is in this thing, and it is very interesting, lots of love in here, your heart had lots to give,” the ferryman said,

He waved a hand, and the boat lurched, the oars moving without force, and the ferryman still engrossed with what essentially was his whole life.

“I know i’ve made mistakes, I-”

“I’ve ferried nearly a hundred souls to their respective afterlives and I’ll tell you this, all of them have said the same exact words to me, so i'll let you in on something; all your actions mean to you only what you make them mean to you.”

“Don’t panic, young one,” he said, turning the pages as he read them, “You’re not the first panicky child I've had in my boat.”

“I apologize if my words offend you, but it is something I’ve been saying for millenia.” the ferryman’s voice said, remaining as monotone as it had since he first spoke, a slight chuckle emanating from his throat.

“Tuna,” the ferryman said, closing the book, “would you like to see the world you left, how your departure has affected those within it?”

The question was tempting, a chance to see everyone again. 

But he’d only just left, how much time has passed, what decades have sprawled in the mere twenty or so minutes that he had wandered out of his front door into this strange plane of existence, 

What had become of his best friend? How did they take his leaving?, 

How were his sisters?, 

How were his friends from across the world?

Tuna stared at his reflection in the water, he hadn’t shaved in a while, a light scruff graced his face, and there were circles around his eyes, but they’d always been there though.

“I wanna see Nike first, I wanna see how they are.” There was a lump forming in the back of his throat, the thought of his best friend in pain and sadness from his passing hurt him like no other pain before.

There was a scraping at the bottom of the boat, and finally, they hit sand, and there was a door centered in the wilderness. the ferryman stopped him before he left the boat,

“Here, take this, it will keep you safe if you wish to return to them to check up on them every now and them.”

He held out his hand, and a necklace seemed to materialize into existence, a simple chain, silver, with an hourglass pendant looped through one of the side handles, the sand was stationary at the bottom of the glass.

“What will this do?” Tuna asked

“It will keep you safe, plain and simple, no tricks or bargains or debts owed”

“Keep me safe from what?”

“If you don’t want the hourglass, I shall take it back.”

“No, It’s fine, It’ll keep me safe and I want to keep it!”

the ferryman only smiled in response, shooing the young man to the shore with a flick of his fingers.

Walking to the door, it looked less majestic than he had expected, a simple door, plain white, with an aluminum handle.

Tuna reached for the handle slowly, stopping to check himself over.

He looked fine, all things considered, he felt a bit lighter too. He looked back at the ferryman, who gave him a wave, as if to say ‘go, I’ll be here when you return’, before the nosy bastard opened up his book again.

Sighing, Reed opened the door, and there was an unfamiliar place on the other side, a Starbucks, somewhere, it was rainy and cold, and people were inside, and not wearing masks.

This must be a few years from now, after that year, after that disease.

Pulling himself from his thoughts again he looked inside, there was someone sitting in the corner, with a cup emitting steam.

It was them, they had aged gracefully, though they were still 5’4, but they looked wiser than they did the last time he’d seen them.

Reed sat in the adjacent chair, pulling it out slightly making it screech, grabbing Nike’s attention for a split second. They mumbled to themselves something about slouching and pushing the chair. 

He sighed, leaning on his elbow on the table, they looked absolutely serene when they were writing, maybe they were still editing that book they were going to publish, maybe they were onto something new.

“You do know that I'll always be with you? Even when you are feeling lost, or if you are having trouble, in every moment that you want or need me, I will be there.”

Nike seemed to look up at him when he spoke, their eyes growing watery.

Reed took off the necklace that the ferryman had given him, and slipped it into their jacket pocket, before heading towards the door.

“You do know that I’ll always love you, right?” he said.

Turning back to the table, he saw them smiling, wiping their eyes with a napkin, their glasses pushed up to their forehead.

\---

The ferryman was waiting for him when he stepped through the door, a smirk on his face and the book now discarded on the rowboat’s bench seat.

“So you did give it to them, as I suspected”

“Of course, I love them, and I want them to be safe.”

Death only smirked and rowed the boat down the river.


End file.
